"This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Causer, J. (2015), Manipulating practice variables to maximise learning. Medical Education, 49: 552–554. doi: 10.1111/medu.12735 which has been published in final form at http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/medu.12735. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving."